Charging machine for annealing furnaces



March 31. 1925. 1,531,407

L. JOHNSON CHARGING MACHINE FOR ANNEALING FURNACES Filed Aug. 12- 1924 3Sheets-Sheet 1 3 1:11? 17- g 15- 1 J2 [3 mm H 21 IQIL I Marsh 31, 19251,531,407

L. JOHNSON CHARGING MACHINE FOR ANNEALING FURNACES le g 12- 1924 3Sheets-Sheet 1s Patented .Mar. 31, 1925.

UNITED STATES Parana creme.

LANE JOHNSON, O F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNO'R TO UNITEDENGEIEER- IN G AND FOUNDRY COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ACORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

CHARGING MACHINE FOR ANNEALING FURNACES.

Application filed August 12, 1924. Serial No. 31,544.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, LANE JOHNSON, a citi zen of the United States,residing at Pittsburgh, county ef Allegheny, ,and State of Pennsylvania,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Charging Machines forAnnealing Furnaces, of which the following By the present invention I.havev provided an annealing furnace charging machine which is adapted toraise the annealing box from and lower it on to the supporting baseportion of the furnace chamber without any appreciable longitudinalmovement of the box, thereby avoiding any liability 'of knocking out theend Wall of the furnace chamber or of damaging the supporting baseportlon of the chamber.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure l is a p an view of a. preferred form of charging machineembodying my invention;

Figure 2 is a view showing the charging machinein side elevation and inoperative position beneath an annealing box, the furnace chamber inwhich the annealing box'is placed being shown in section;

Figure 3 is a broken away view showing the charging machine in elevationand positioned in front of the furnace chamber;

Figure 4 is a plan view, on a larger scale, of a portion of the charginmachine;

Figure 5 is a section on the line V-V of Figure 4, but on a largerscale;

Figure 6 is a side elevation corresponding to Figure 4;

Figure 7 is a cross section of the lower portion of the furnace chamber,showing in dotted lines the annealing box being held in raised positionoff of the supporting base portion of the chamber by the chargingmachine, and i Figures 8 and 9 are respectively a plan view and asideelevation showing a slight modification of the means for raising andlowering the annealing box.

Inthe embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figures 1 to 7inclusive, the charging machine comprises a supporting carriage 2adapted to benioved into and out of a furnace chamber onrails 3, sa'idrails as shown being in the form of channels. The

carriage comprises 'two longitudinally extending. parallel members, eachof which consists of. two parallel bars 4 having track engaging rollers5 journaled therebetween on pins 6 extending through the bars. The outerbar 4 of each of said longitudinally extending members is provided alongits.

lower ed c with a rack 7 engaged by pinion 8, where y the carriage isadapted to be moved nto and outof the furnace chamber, the pinions 8being driven by any suitable means.

The longitudinal members of the carriage are connected towardsthe frontthere'ofby a transverse brace 9. Mounted on the carriage adjacent, its.rear end is an electric motor 10,'the base 11 of which/is secured to thelongitudinally extending members. The motor drives a screw 12 which isjournaled in bearings 13 mounted on the carriage. This screw engages anut 14 carried by a cross head 15. Links 16 are pivoted at one end uponpins 17 projecting from the ends of the cross'head. Each link has itsopposite end bifurcated and pivoted to a screw clevis 18.-

Held between each pair of bars 4 is a series of lower wedges 1'9 andcooperating with each series of lower wedges is a series of upper wedges20. Each'se ies of upper Wedges is mounted on a rod 21, the wedges beingheld in s aced relation thereon by sleeves 22. Eac rod 21 has its rearend portion screw threaded for engagement with a clevis 18 and mountedon such screw threaded portion is a nut 23. The forward end of each rodis also screw threaded and has mounted thereon a nut 24. It will be seenthat the nuts 23 and 24 serve to clamp the upper wedges against thespacer sleeves 22.

' Supported upon the upper edges of each pair of bars 4 is an invertedchannel 25. The upper wedges 20 are T-shaped in cross section to fit inthe space between the bars 4: and also in the space between the flangesof the channel members, whereby the latter are prevented from shiftinglaterally on the bars gas will ,be apparent by reference to Figure 5. nv

- Each channel member has a pair of bearings 26at its rear endwhichsupport a pivot pin 27. Links 28 are pivoted at' one and upon each, pin27. These links extend for- .wardly and are pivoted at their forwardends gupon pins 29 projecting from the bars a When an annealing box isto be placed ina furnace chamber, the 1notor will be operated to movethe cross head rearwardly, thereby effecting, the raising of thesupporting channel members through the cooperation of the upper wedges20 with the lower wedges 19." The annealing box Wlll then be placed onthe supporting members 25, the charging machine of course being 1n frontof the furnace chamber, as illustrated in Figure 3. The pinions 8 willthenbe rotatedto move the charging machine'and annealing box into thefurnacechamber, as 11- lustrated in Figure 2. The'position of theannealing box with respect to the supporting base p0rtion30 of thefurnace chamber when the-box is thus moved into the furnace chamber isillustrated in Figure 7 It will be seen that the box has been raised bythe charging machine to a position in which it clears the base portionas the box is.

moved into the chamber. When the box is in proper position in thechamber, the motor 10 1s operated in a direction to move the cross head15 forwardly and allowthe annealing box tode'scend and rest on thesupporting base portion 30 of the furnace chamber. The channel members25 assume the position shown in full lines in Figure 7 in which positionthey are slightly below the bottom of the annealing box, which is nowresting on the base portion 30. The charging machine may now bewithdrawn from the furnace chamber. When it is desired to remove theannealing box from the furnace chamber the charging machine will bemoved into 'sition beneath the box, as illustrated in igure 2, and themotor 10 operatedin a direction to move the cross head 15 -rearwardlyand effect the raising of the box off of the supportin base portion 30of the furnace chamber. ring this raising movement of the box the links28 preient the supporting members 25 from having any apprecia lelongitudinal movement relative to the carirage. Therefore there is notendency to drag the annealing box in contact with the supporting base30 and cause consequent damage to the latter.

Since the supporting members 25 are held against longitudinal movementduring the raising and lowering of theannealing box, there is-also nodangerof 'the'la'tter being pushed against thefe nd wall of'the furnacechamber. I

In Figures 8 and 9 I have shown a slight modification of the means for;raising and lowering the annealing box. In this modified form of theinvention anti-friction rollers 31 are substituted for the lower wedges19, these rollers being journaled upon pins 32 supported in the bars 4:.Po sitioned above each pair of bars 4 is a similar pair of bars 33 forsupporting the annealing box. These bars 33 are connected by pins 34which form the journals for antifriction rollers 35. v Mounted on therods 21 are double wedges 36 which are reciprocated in the spacesbetween the bars 4. and 33 and cooperate with the rollers 31 and 35 rfor raising and lowering the supporting 1 members 33.

While I. have shown and described cer tain preferred embodiments of myinvention, it will be understood that the invention is not limited tothese precise embodiments but that it may be otherwise embodied withinthe scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit ofthe invention.

I claim:

1. A charging machine for furnaces, comprising a carriage adapted to bemoved into and out of a furnace chamber and embodying longitudinallyextending parallel members,.each of the said members comprising a pairof spaced bars having track-engaging rollers journaled therebetween,supporting members for a container mounted on said carriage members,means interposed between each carriage member and the overlyingvsupporting member and movable relatively thereto for raising andlowering said supporting members, and means for substantially preventinglongitudinal movement of said supporting members relatively to saidcarriage members during the raising and lowering of said supportingmembers, substantiall as described.

2. A c arging machine for furnaces, com prising a carriage adapted tobemoved into and out of a furnace chamber, supporting means for acontainer mounted on said carriage, means interposed between saidcarriage and supportmgmeans and movable,

3. A charging machine for furnaces, comprising'a carriage adapted to bemoved into and out of a furnace chamber and embodying longitudinallyextending parallel mem bers, a motor mounted on said carriage adjacentits rear end, supporting members for a container mounted on saidcarriage members at the forward end of said carriage, wedge meansinterposed between said carriage members and supporting members, meansoperatively connecting said wed means with said motor whereby to shiftsald wedge means longitudinally of the carriage for effecting theraising and lowering of said supportin members, and link meansconnecting eac of said carri e members with the corresponding supportingmember for substantial y preventing longitudinal movement of saidsupporting members relative to the carriage durin the raising andlowering thereof, substantially as described.

4. A charging machine for furnaces, comprising a carriage adapted to bemoved into rollers journaled therebetween, support1ng members for acontainer mounted on said carriage members, wedge means interposedbetween said supporting members and car- I riage members and holdingsaid supporting members from shifting laterally on said carriagemembers, a motor mounted on said carriage, means operatively connectingsaid motor-with said wedge means for shifting the latter to effect theraising and lowering of said supporting members, and means connected tosaid carriage members and supporting members for substantiallypreventing longitudinal movement of said supporting members during theraising and lowerthereof, substantially as described.

11 testimony whereof I have hereunto set' my hand. I

LANE J OHNSONa

